MANILA -- The Philippine peso stood strong against the US dollar Friday, but the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) dipped, a day after it recovered from days of slides.
The local currency unit finished the day at 51.24 from its 51.27 Thursday, which a trader traced partly to the lower 1.7-percent growth of imports last September from year-ago’s 18 percent rise.
The peso's strength was, however, muted by corporate demand for the greenback, the trader said.
It opened the day at 51.30, little changed from the 51.28 a day ago. It traded between 51.36 and 51.09, bringing the day’s average to 51.23.
Volume for the day reached USD732.9 million, higher than the USD614.9 million the day before.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 51.10 and 51.40 Monday next week.
On the other hand, the PSEi shed 1.01 percent, or 86.34 points, to 8,433.48 points.
Most indices fell, with the broader All Shares down by 0.96 percent, or 47.96 points, to 4.931.86 points.
The Property index led the downtrend, falling 2.03 percent, followed by the Holding Firms, 1.09 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.96 percent; Industrial, 0.78 percent; and Services, 0.72 percent.
Only the Financials ended the week with gains, rising by 0.38 percent.
Volume for the day reached 1.17 billion shares amounting to Php7.53 billion.
Losers led gainers at 134 to 73, while 44 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
